


Paws Off

by orphan_account



Series: Winteriron Prompts [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man - All Media Types, Marvel
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Dogs, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-15
Updated: 2016-01-15
Packaged: 2018-05-14 04:07:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5728954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony should've known something was up. If he did, he wouldn't have been gaping unattractively at the pit bull curled up on their couch.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Paws Off

**Author's Note:**

> This was in answer to two prompts: _"Imagine Bucky finding and breaking up a dog fighting ring and ends up bring home one of the dogs because he connects with it and Tony fall in love with this huge scared dog at first sight even though now he has to share his bed with two space heaters"_
> 
> And: _"I just saw this video of dogs being jealous of their people kissing ([youtu. be/s_prB2r8dYU](youtu.)) and I can't help imagining Bucky and Tony and their three-legged puppy"_

Tony should’ve known something was up when he saw their trash bin out on the curb a whole day before their weekly neighborhood trash pickup. Out on the curb and overflowing. With boxes. But Tony just shrugged after a second, thinking maybe James had gone on a cleaning binge. He knows there were a few boxes that were still unopened in the unused office, and the recent move had been stressing James out lately. So yeah, it was strange, but Tony thought it made sense.

But Tony should’ve known. If he knew something was up, he would have been… well, maybe not completely prepared, but he definitely wouldn’t have been standing as long as he had, gaping unattractively at the pit bull curled up on their couch. It wasn’t that big a dog; Tony guessed it was probably a little less than a year old. But he couldn’t really say where that guess came from, because the dog was skinny, almost too skinny, and had bandages scattered across its body. He didn’t want to know how bad those looked. The most glaring feature was the missing leg. Tony decided the universe had some twisted irony, because it was the front left. No wonder James brought it home.

When Tony finally snapped out of it, he picked up on the sound of shifting in the kitchen and promptly not-ran to the sound. Turning around the corner, he saw James attempting to… to bandage a _bite_ on his _shoulder_.

“What the hell?” Tony hissed, rushing forward and unceremoniously taking the bandage out of his husband’s hands. “You brought the dog that bit you home with you??”

James, as usual, was much calmer than he should have been, given the bloody shoulder. “He’s harmless,” he replied. “The dog in the ring with him wasn’t.”

Tony gapes unattractively. Again. “The _ring_? Weren’t you supposed to be out with Steve? What the fuck are you doing at a dog fight?”

And apparently that’s all he had to say to have James go off on an hour rant, decidedly less calm than just a minute before. He and Steve just left a store when they heard barking, yelping, cheering. They followed the sound down an alley to find some half-assed attempt at starting some dogfighting organization, with about five men and two pit bulls with barely any space to move in their fenced-in area. James wasn’t inclined to see it continue, and Steve even less so. So obviously, only a few minutes later, the men found themselves rolling on the ground in pain, Steve calling the cops and James cradling a shivering pit bull in his arms.

“They’re gonna have to put the other one down,” James said quietly as Tony washed up. “I’ve already been checked out. No shots needed. Got that pipsqueak in there checked out as well.”

Tony sighed, rubbing his face tiredly. “What’s gonna happen to it?” He was dreading the answer. Mostly because he had a pretty good idea as to what the answer was going to be.

Sure enough, when he turned around, James had this wide, pleading look on his face. He was even sticking his lip out in a pout, the bastard.

“No. There’s no way. We just moved here, James, you’re stressed as it is.”

“You’ll love her. The dog will make me less stressed.”

Tony raised a brow. “Oh, picking up its shit and training it to not eat the garbage is stress relief, is it?”

James just pushed the lip out further. It was looking more and more ridiculous.

Tony frowned. “No. We’re not keeping it.”

* * *

 _Her_ name was Maria, and Tony was in love. He was man enough to admit the first couple of weeks were hell, what with the frequent bathroom breaks she took around the house, the frequent checkups to the vet’s – Tony had yet another reason to be thankful he was as successful an engineer as he was – the numerous times she puked up the food her stomach couldn’t handle. But the worst was the whining.

Oh god, the whining.

He often prayed to whatever deity popped into his head at the time that the whining would cease, but not out of annoyance. He was pretty sure his heart was breaking with every whimper he heard at night on the other side of their bedroom door. What _was_ annoying were the “I told you so,” looks James would send if he caught Tony looking at their door.

But after the first few weeks, things began to settle. Maria was getting used to solid foods again – if she had ever been used to solid foods in the first place, which Tony doubted – and her ribs were barely visible any longer. She turned her whimpering into reminders to be taken out instead of just for the evenings. And despite the lost limb, she was so playful and energetic. If James woke first and went to start breakfast, Maria would burst through the door and jump on Tony soon after, wiggling on top of him until he groaned into wakefulness. Actually, she just liked to wiggle on Tony in general. He became her favorite, much to his surprise and James’ amusement.

He was less amused when she started playing guard dog on him.

It all started one evening. The dinner was cleaned up, the TV was playing “Star Wars”, and Tony had given up, as he always does, in pushing Maria off onto the floor. She was just sitting in his lap, a sizeable wiggling mess, enjoying the attention she was getting. James looked as content and calm as Tony felt, and leaned in to give a kiss. Maria, apparently, was having none of that. She turned and immediately stuck her snout right between him and James, who jerked back, his face scrunched up in disgust.

“Ugh,” he pulled his hand from around Tony’s shoulders to wipe at his tongue. “Dog hair. Dog saliva. What the hell?”

Tony laughed as Maria just stared James down, looking ready to do something drastic if she saw it happen again. What she would do, Tony had no idea. Wiggle threateningly?

“It’s not funny,” James frowned at Tony. He glanced at Maria warily and moved in slowly again, only to pull back when Maria growled softly. “I saved you, ungrateful twerp.”

“She clearly knows which of us is more charming,” Tony sniggered, moving out of the way of James’ hand as he tried to smack him. “Careful, she might get dangerous.”

James pressed his lips into a flat, unamused line. “Please. Maria’s only attack is to wiggle your legs numb.” He sighed, resting his head back on the sofa. “This is worse than having kids. The worst kids do is just get grossed out. They don’t try to _intervene_.”

Tony raised a brow. “Oh, and you know because you have kids stashed away somewhere? Or did you rescue a couple from some toddler fight club?”

“Shut up.”

Tony couldn’t keep the smile off his face for the rest of the evening, even as James glared halfheartedly at the door as Maria whined. A thought came to mind, and he smiled wider. “Hmm, you know, she’ll never stop whining. It’s such a sad sound.”

James whipped his head around to stare wide-eyed at Tony. “Don’t. Don’t you dare. I will make you sleep on the couch.”

Tony shrugged, “At least Maria will have company, I guess.”

“You’re such an asshole.” The tone in James’ voice belied the insult, as did his moving closer and draping his arm across Tony’s chest. “It’s like you want our love-life to suffer.”

“Nah, I’m too selfish to give that up.” Tony pressed a kiss to James’ lips, and James hummed contentedly in response, returning it wholeheartedly. The kiss eventually became deeper, more heated, and they pushed the blankets aside to get better access to each other.

Before moving further, however, James pulled back and said, “But seriously. You bring her in here, and it’ll just be you and your hand for a good long while.”

Tony chuckled, shifting his hips against his husband’s. “And I am suitably chastised.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed this, please feel free to check out my other fics posted here.
> 
> Also, feel free to check out my tumblr blog over [here.](littleammydee.tumblr.com)


End file.
